Reviews by DandyEssex:

Hazy reddish brown colour, like that of a horse really. Low head retention, but it keeps a thin, sticky foam for the whole drink.

Great aromatics here! There is just so much going on. Cherry, sour apple, vanilla, wet forest wood. Beautifully fragrant, I could smell this all day. It continues to evolve and move between its component for hours.

The palate is just as complex, but not quite as powerful. Medium-bodied, huge acidity. The tartness is rounded out by a more forward sweet flavour profile. Cranberry, apple, vanilla, tart balsamic. There is a tannic grip & wine note that is distracting at first, but integrates nicely.

This is really something else! Something worth seeking out & trying. A great combination of old fashioned Lambic beer's sourness & the polish of oak-aged Flemish Red ales.

Totally worth seeking out and trying, even if it is not for everyone. (922 characters)

More User Reviews:

My bottle features a blue and purple label with a white drawn oak barrel. Bottled in 2005, the interesting cap has a small embedded plastic cork that gave a healthy pop when I got it off. Pours from the bottle a deep dark brown with tons of garnet hues. Very mellow carbonation creates only a small bubbly head that becomes a ring around the glass with spotty lacing. Aromas hit before I even pick up the glass. Sour cherries and oak collide with a sweet burnt caramel, brown sugar note underneath. A bit funky with some vinegar-esque acidity in the nose. The mix of sweet, sour and wood aromas is quite tantalizing. Simply a lovely aroma.

First sip brings a mix of sweet, warm caramel notes along with a blast of slightly puckering sour cherry. Dry, earthy woody oak flavors flow throughout the length of each sip. A bit vinous in character, I'm enjoying the interplay between the sweet and sour sides of this brew. Fairly acidic with a steady sharp, earthy yeast flavor throught. The subtle funkiness reminds me of a nice lambic. With each sip I can envision the barrel containing this brew, sitting in a dark corner in the brewery, slowly awaiting the day it will be ready to be bottled. Yum.

Mouthfeel is smooth and a bit slick with a really mellow carbonation that allows it to slide across the palate and into my beer lovin stomach. Quite the tasty flanders red here. It's easy to sit and adore a 750ml bottle of this fine Italian brew. Well worth the bigger price tag, Panil deserves praise for creating a truly tasty beer. Thanks to Shelton for bringing this over to the sour beer lovers like me in the US. Now that the bottle is almost gone....it's time to seek out more! (1,686 characters)

750 ml bottle "Bottled in 2005", bought 5/25/06 and kept in the fridge since. Pours a clear reddish brown with a very wispy head (even after a hard pour) that quickly disappears completely.

The aroma is a little sweet bubblegum and quite a bit of tart fruity sourness with a little smoky oak.

The flavor is mostly tart sourness and cherries with a little bubblegum sweetness and a musty earthiness. The sourness mellows as it warms. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and watery with no carbonation. The bottle had a big pop when I uncapped it but there has been no head or carbonation.

Overall, a bit of a disappointment. Nice, but not great, aroma and flavor. The lack of carbonation was a bit disturbing though. (719 characters)

Taste has a backbone of the style characteristics but just doesn't execute. Cherry, wet oak, fermented apple cider, cherry skins, vinegar, and tannins are basically overwhelmed by the vinegar aspect. Not at all enjoyable.

It seems the 2006 bottling of this isn't faring well with reviewers. This is certainly a major disappointment at $16 a bottle. This is barely drinkable. (642 characters)

Shared a bottle of this brew with Denali at Sunset Grille in Brighton, Massachusetts 7/4/05.

Nice foamy head and a reddish brown body. Smelled of bourbon, fruit and sourness. Tasted fruity and was very sour with strong waves of oak bourbon. A very special and tasty brew, well worth trying if you can find it. (312 characters)

I got this as a single at Union Jack's on the Manatawny. I drank it in a goblet. This is the 2005 version. Interesting plastic lined bottle cap, I presume designed for carb. retention.

Pours a very hazy dark red, with a tiny head of light tan foam. The head quickly falls to just a small ring around the glass, with no real lacing to speak of. A little disappointing after the big blast I got when I opened it. The second, and last, glassful, was very cloudy from the yeast, which I always drink. (For health reasons, you know!).

Aroma is a wonderful, sweet fruitiness, with notes of fermenting grapes and cherries. There's a tiny bit of oak in there, and hardly any hops to speak of. Barnyard funkiness comes through very well as it warms, as well as some yeastiness.

First flavor is sweet fruit, like cherries and grapes, followed by sourness, but not overly so. Was expecting more sourness. Notes of tannin, grape skins, young red wine vinegar, and cherry juice. Aftertaste is a long, puckering sourness/astringency, very pleasant, in competition with a certain level of residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel is tart/sweet, light bodied, with a very low level of carbonation. Finish is slightly dull, but nice. Burps are delish!

This beer is so much better as it warms, it's incredible. When I do another of these, I'll start drinking it at 60F. This was @ 50F when I started this time. As a Flanders Red ale, it's very approachable. I've certainly had much more sour beers. This is nicely complex, without being a jumble of Belgian funk. (Which I indeed love). So, to sum it up, it's very good, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more funkiness and complexity, but I'd recommend it to anyone thinking of purchasing it. (1,725 characters)

Appearance: brownish red of strawberry jam, slightly murky; pours good head tinged with pink, receding to a film after a few minutes

Aroma: play-doh; musty fruit and mold, or light smoke, as if peated

Taste & Mouthfeel: very intense sweet & sour flavours bursting, with sour cherry grabbing the reigns clear to the finish where the feel of must/smoke appears again; medium body with minimal carbonation and some sugary stickiness; get a big sense of cranberry juice after a while, with a nice zip of chili

Overall: Not something to drink a lot of, but sharp, interesting, and unexpected flavour make it something I could see in a food pairing, maybe with cheese (664 characters)

A- This beer pours a reddish-brown body with a strong carbonation and a huge creamy head that last a long time. It has good lacing throughout the drink.

S- This beer smells of back cherries and a hint of oak with a slight sour note in the finish. A very faint note of vanilla with a slight fruitiness.

T- The flavor has a bold earthiness with a nice cognac note. Some notes of orange and red currant are also in the background. This beer finishes with a tart tannic flavor combined with a faint grapefruit note.

M- This has a medium mouthfeel with a mild astringency in the finish

D-This is a nice complex red that has notes of cognac and oak along with a good depth of fruity notes. It has some accents of deep red wine and it has a great earthiness to it. Another great beer that can only be classified as a Flanders Red. (861 characters)

2007 vintage, courtesy of BeerBistro in T.O. (and about 35 bucks, of course...) At least they were clear about which version they were serving.

This beer pours a clear, very dark ruby hue, with very little soapy white head, which leaves but a speck or two of lace around the chalice. It smells of mild barley malt, soar lemon/cherry fruit, and a bit of barnyard funk. The taste is quite tart, with some funky cherry and grape flavours, almost like a fruity red wine that just went off. Below this is a decent sweet malt, and earthy, green hops. The carbonation is very soft, the body fruity and fleshy, medium weight, and it finishes with a light tart, vinegary fruitiness.

A nicely balanced ale, among the tartness, funk, and grain. (735 characters)

Deep reddish brown in colour, turning crimson when held to the light. Large off-white head, decent retention, but almost no lace. Stone fruit aroma tends toward the darker and more acidic, with plum and sour cherry notes predominating. Cigar box comes out as the beer warms. The palate opens with sour cherry, plum skin, and balsamic (minus the sweetness) notes that give way to tobacco, light wood, and the slightest hint of vanilla.

This is the Italian version, the bottle is completely in Italian, and it is sour but not the sourest purposely infected bottle. Decent drinkability, reddish colour. Smooth, above average mouthfeel. Controlled mouthfeel, well malted.Cherry and balance. (251 characters)

Pours almost still hazy red-brown with no head and little lacing. Aroma is a little thin; wisps of oak and vanilla on balsamic vinegar. Flavor is pleasant but uncomplicated. Sweet and sour balsamic vinegar with oak notes. Body is creamy and slightly rich; far too still for the style. Not terrible, but I'd *never* pay the premium for this unusual (non-Belgian) Flemish red ale when Rodenbach is far better and half the price. (485 characters)

BIG ups to andrenaline for including this in our most recent cross country tradeA - swampy purple amber, thumb of head receded to half a finger and left plenty of consistent lacingS - sour cherry, apple, and some citrus, musty with a dry cracker aromaT - big sour apple and cherry up front, followed by a musty sawdust thing, cracker malt, and a touch of champagneM - light and bubbly, tart sour kick with a hint of sweetness for balance, finishes dryO - I am fairly new to the style but this speaks to me, the flavours are bold but friendly and generally inviting (569 characters)

It pours a deep red-brown, the colour of a scab that is about to fall off with a ratty pus-yellow head.

The smell is rich. Leather, sour cherries, rotten fruit left unattended in your vegetable crisper for months, even a pinch of horse-sweat.

The taste follows the nose. Delicious. Layer after layer of what an oak aged red is supposed to taste like. It isn't sweet, but the tartness is balanced by the sheer funk. It is like biting into the most delicious rotten apple you've ever eaten.

The mouthfeel is a touch thin. The finish could be a little drier too. But we're nitpicking at this point.

Drinkability? This is freakin' fantastic! I've got a bit of heartburn from it, but it is totally worth the experience. Amazing! (812 characters)

Appearance: Dark brown, with perhaps a little bit of red, the ring of lace was pearly white.

Smell: Aromas was a lot more woody with a cherry sweetness, the balsamic character was more subtle than a Rodenbach grand cru.

Taste: Strange, even though the acidity seemed less present in the nose, it was there big time in the taste. The smoothness of the cask aging showed up nicely in the finish. As good a Flanders Red as you'll find anywhere, and hands down the best Beer to come out Italy that I've ever had. (514 characters)

Cap is wrestled off, soon followed by gushing foam. Luckily I was able to contain it in the glass nearby. Pours a light crimson-brown, high-clarity with champagne carbonation. Sheets of lacing coat the glass.

Taste has the sharp sour fruit qualities again, Brett, and a medicinal note that keeps it from getting high marks. This is a familiar taste, in a much more restrained form, that was experienced with bad bottles of T'Smisje Vuuve. It is "sterile gauze" like, likely a result of wild yeast. It's not altogether off-putting, and seems to taper off as it sits in the glass for awhile. Oak is not especially present, maybe in the dryness in the finish. Sourness is moderate, far from being as puckering as Cantillon, but closer to Rodenbach.

Mouthfeel and drinkability suffer from the medicinal wild yeast flavor, but it is still a nice crisp, sour brew. Even so, the bottle was easy to finish in a sitting. My personal preference for the style is Rodenbach Grand Cru, followed by Duchesse. (1,146 characters)

Aroma is vinegar, sour cherries and tart fruits. Reddish brown in color with thumb thick tan head. Fore is quite sour and musty and is followed quickly by tart cherries and unripe apple, strong notes of those baby corns, used in Oriental cooking, stewed in cooking wine. Wood notes pop out in the middle along with musty barnyard notes. Finish is sour and dry and leaves the tongue feeling cleansed. I personally feel this would have benefited by a little more sweetness beneath the sour notes as it hints at it and that promise is enticing, but undelivered. (558 characters)